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Battle of Beka Valley
The Battle of Beka Valley (7-9 June 1982) was a military encounter between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic that took place in southern Lebanon's Beka Valley during the Lebanese Civil War. The Israeli army, which had invaded Lebanon on 6 June 1982 to drive the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) out of their missile bases in "Fatahland" (Southern Lebanon), managed to fight against the Syrian Arab Army and prevent them from giving their assistance to the PLO forces by clashing with them in a proxy conflict that cost the Syrians several of their planes and their tanks. Background In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was created by Yasser Arafat out of Palestinian exiles who wanted to take back Palestine from the control of Israel, a mainly-Jewish state. The PLO began a series of rocket attacks from the "Fatahland" region of southern Palestine, targeting Israeli settlements and civilians across the border. The Israelis launched cross-border raids under the command of Ariel Sharon, whose "Unit 101" counter insurgency force made several incursions across the border into the Gaza Strip and Jordan. The Israelis, under the rule of the Likud party head Menachem Begin, began a campaign to keep their leader in power in 1981 with elections coming up. Begin won support after his daring attack into Iraq - Operation Opera - destroyed an Iraqi Osirak reactor and stopped Iraq from possessing any nuclear warheads that could be used against Israel if another war began between the two countries. In June 1982, after a failed assassination attempt on Israeli politician Shlomo Argov, the Palestine Liberation Organization retreated back to their headquarters of Beirut in Lebanon and planned more attacks. In order to stop the PLO from continuing their terrorist attacks, Begin authorized Operation Peace for Galilee and the less-broad Operation Big Pines, whose goals were to bring peace to northern Israel and to destroy the PLO in Lebanon, respectively. Battle On 6 June 1982, General Rafael "Raful" Eitan began the operation by invading southern Lebanon and destroying a PLO artillery base in the old Beaufort castle. On 7 June the Israeli advance continued and they reached the outskirts of the coastal town of Damour, fourteen miles south off Beirut. They clashed with the Syrian Arab Army stationed in the Beka Valley in the east of Lebanon; the Syrians were sent to Lebanon to prevent the Israelis from installing the Christian Lebanon Front leader Bachir Gemayel as a pro-Israel president. The Israelis and Syrians clashed in the air and on the ground, and on 9 June the war intensified when the Israeli air force attacked and destroyed 17 of the 19 Russian-supplied SAM anti-aircraft batteris that Syria installed. At the same time, Israeli planes shot down 19 Syrian MiG-21 and MiG-23 jet fighters over the Beka Valley, and Israeli and Syrian tanks and troops came into direct conflict that day. Eventually, the conflict ended as Israel and Syria began to fight in a tank battle northeast of Lake Karun, where Israel won a further victory. Aftermath On 11 June, Israel agreed to a ceasefire. Ariel Sharon achieved a remarkable territorial conquest, as his troops were dug in only two miles south of the Beirut airport, in the east they were only a few miles from the highway from Beirut to Damascus, and in the Beka Valley they had taken over lands only four miles from the border with Syria. However, the PLO remained in Beirut, so Israel had to continue their intervention against the Palestinian forces and the Lebanon war continued until 1985, when Israeli forces withdrew after much genocide pitting Christian militias against PLO terrorists and Palestinian civilians. Category:Battles Category:Lebanese Civil War